Giant magnetoresistance, also called the spin-valve effect, has provided substantial improvement in read heads used for reading data from a magnetic disk drives. The read heads convert each magnetic bit of data into a digital electrical signal that is fed to a processor for display, analysis, or transmission. Processing in additional electronic devices is required before the electrical signal can be delivered to a laser or a light emitting diode for conversion to a digital optical signal. None of the available devices provide a one step process for reading magnetic data and converting the magnetic digital signal directly into an optical signal. Thus, a better system for converting a magnetic signal to an optical signal is needed, and this solution is provided by the following invention.